Rock Out

We head to Tenerife to check into a hotel that takes sound very seriously indeed.

After the successful launch of Europe’s very first Hard Rock Hotel in Ibiza back in May 2014, it was only a matter of time before the Palladium Hotel Group and Hard Rock International team up again for an encore performance. This time around, they have created a second European hotel on the Spanish island of Tenerife.

Opened in late 2016, Hard Rock Hotel Tenerife is located on the southern coast near Adeje and offers five-star facilities and services to its guests, all while maintaining the immersive music environment that is synonymous with the Hard Rock brand.

Divided across two towers — Oasis and Nirvana — are a total of 624 rooms, including 266 suites, which combine contemporary design and high-end amenities with Hard Rock International’s fascinating collection of priceless music memorabilia, which are all displayed throughout the hotel.

The guests at the hotel are spoilt for choice when it comes to the leisure options, with three pools, a natural salt water lagoon, the Rock spa, Body Rock gym, kids and teens clubs and even a 620sqm convention centre, which can host up to 525 people for meetings, events and conferences.

There are a huge selection of culinary delights to be enjoyed at Hard Rock Hotel Tenerife, too, with six restaurants from around the world, including traditional Spanish tapas, an Asian restaurant, a steakhouse, an all-day buffet, Tex-Mex offerings at the sports bar and, of course, The Beach Club. Elsewhere, there are a further six bars serving the guests refreshments, including the rooftop sky lounge bar, which offers truly breath-taking views of Tenerife, including Teide, Europe’s highest volcanic cone and Spain’s tallest mountain.

OPEN AIR

What really makes Hard Rock Hotel Tenerife stand out, though, is the open-air live music area that is just steps away from the property. With a total capacity of 5000, the stage is able to play host to all kinds of acts, turning the hotel into a live music venue.

With such a wide range of varied facilities, Palladium Hotel Group and Hard Rock International had to ensure the audio setup was perfect for each individual area. The immersive audio experience is where Bose come in, with the manufacturer working alongside Privium Solutions to provide the sound throughout the hotel, from the lobby and rooms right through to the restaurants and spa — as well as the open-air live music area.

Danny Gomez, PR & Sponsoring Manager at Palladium Hotel Group, takes up the story: “It first started three years ago in Ibiza, where we managed to make a deal with Hard Rock International, offering them the opportunity to launch the first Hard Rock Hotel in Europe, which was a very big success. What we managed to bring into the Hard Rock Hotel concept was not just experience relating to the rock bands, pop stars and memorabilia, but also the experience of live bands playing on stage.

“When they came to Ibiza and saw what we were doing, they understood this was possible. What we like in new products is to take the experience of the client a step further. For example, if you are enjoying a top holiday in locations like Ibiza and Tenerife, you can now have a great band performing for you on stage in your hotel, too.”

Bose saw this an opportunity to use its brand new ShowMatch loudspeakers, which feature DeltaQ next-generation array technology, offering the ability to build traditional (J-array or constant curvature) and DeltaQ array configurations, allowing both portable/rental and installed applications to deploy selectable coverage control. DeltaQ originates from the ability to change directivity or ‘Q’ for each array module. When combined in an array, acoustic energy is highly focussed and can be matched to audience areas more accurately. This is an advancement from traditional line arrays, which typically have significantly less pattern control.

DELTA BRAVO

The team at Bose felt that the ShowMatch loudspeakers would be a perfect fit for the open-air stage at Hard Rock Hotel Tenerife, as Fuat Koro, Director of Global Sales & Marketing at Bose, explained.

“We’re very excited about our DeltaQ technology and we’re looking at this project as the start of the next several years — we’re going to be doing a lot more in terms of live music applications. We feel there’s been a shift from recorded to live music and there’s definitely an important role for Bose to provide a better experience in that market.”

“Live music sound reinforcement hasn’t really changed in the last 10 to 15 years as the underlying line array technologies have somewhat stabilised. So, we like to think that we’re ushering in the next generation compared to typical line array products — that’s why it’s such an exciting time to be here,” added Fuat.

Bose, working with Privium Solutions and Hard Rock, created the perfect open-air performance area at Hard Rock Hotel Tenerife, using 12 Bose ShowMatch SM 5 DeltaQ array loudspeakers and two ShowMatch SM 10 DeltaQ array loudspeakers for the stage, along with 16 ShowMatch SM S118 array subwoofers in total. For the DJ monitor, there are three ShowMatch SM 20 loudspeakers and one more ShowMatch SM S118 Array subwoofer. There are also six Powersoft X8 amplifiers with Dante used to power the Bose loudspeakers.

MACHO MACHO SOUND

Palladium Hotel Group and Hard Rock International put the Bose ShowMatch loudspeakers through their paces with their ‘Children of the ’80s’ grand opening party in December 2016. Bringing the spirit of the 1980s to Hard Rock Hotel Tenerife’s open-air stage, the party offered an extravaganza of dancefloor fillers and sing-a-long classics to the guests at the hotel.

Performing live at the event were the Village People, who reeled off their disco classics including ‘In the Navy’, ‘Macho Man’ and ‘Y.M.C.A’; Italian trio, Blackbox, creators of the 1989 best-selling record ‘Ride on Time’; American dance-pop and hip hop group C+C Music Factory, known for a string of hit singles including ‘Gonna Make You Sweat (Everybody Dance Now)’ and ‘Things That Make You Go Hmmm’; African artist, Rozalla of dancefloor classic ‘Everybody’s Free’; and DJ trio Dream Team Reload, fresh from their Ibiza season.

In keeping with the tradition of all Hard Rock hotels across the globe, the opening party also featured Hard Rock’s legendary ‘Guitar Smash’ to officially mark the Hard Rock Hotel Tenerife’s arrival.

CAR PARK TO LOBBY

There were challenges right across the hotel, with each specific area needing an audio system that suited the design and individual atmosphere, as Hans Vereecken, Sales Manager EMEA at Bose, explained: “We worked with Privium Solutions to design the perfect audio system throughout the whole hotel, but not in the usual way of a manufacturer simply supplying the equipment — we set out to create a real experience for the guests. That is not just supplying loudspeakers, it’s making sure that the sound is the same high-quality wherever you are in the hotel. For example, if you leave the restaurant, you will still be able to hear and experience that perfect sound on the balcony or wherever you go.

“When there’s an event going on, you can hear the live music from the event in the lobby or your room if you want to, so you get to experience the event that is going on as soon as you arrive or walk around the hotel. I think it’s that kind of detail that made Bose such an attractive option for Hard Rock, so we had to make that a reality.”

The coverage and quality of sound at Hard Rock Hotel Tenerife is certainly something that strikes guests, with music in the background as soon as you arrive at the car park with 20 x Bose FreeSpace DS16SE loudspeakers providing the sound. As you enter into the lobby and lobby bar, 20 Bose FreeSpace DS40F loudspeakers are used to provide background music. The DS40F loudspeaker is used extensively in the hotel, with the flushmount speaker providing background and foreground music in a whole host of areas – highlighting its versatility. In the main buffet restaurant, 26 x DS40F loudspeakers, with a Bose ControlSpace ESP CC-16 zone controller, were specified to provide the right level of background sound for the guests. In the hotel’s snack bar, another four DS 40F loudspeakers are paired with two Bose FreeSpace DS100SE loudspeakers. Also, the DS100SE is used to great effect on the terrace and in the terrace bar, with 12 of the loudspeakers providing the perfect ambience for guests enjoying their food and drinks throughout the day and into the evening.